Solar Orbiter’s Metis instrument takes images of the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the corona, from 1.7 to 3 solar radii. It does this by artificially covering the Sun’s bright disc, similar to what happens in a total solar eclipse. This allows researchers to continuously monitor the behaviour of the corona, especially the way it flows outwards to create the solar wind.

This sequence of images shows the behaviour of the corona from 04:39 UT on 22 March 2022 to 04:02 UT on 23 March 2022. The right panel is an image processed version of the left image, which allows even more details in the corona to be seen.

Notable in this sequence is that the polar regions are dim. This is reminiscent of a ‘solar minimum’ magnetic field configuration on the Sun, when solar activity is low, and is not expected to last much longer. The Sun is currently ramping up for a peak in its activity levels, known as solar maximum, in 2025. Over the coming months and years, the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft will see these polar regions become brighter as the magnetic activity in the polar regions increases also.